Improvement in watches



UNITED sTATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. BOWEN, OF TRENTON, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND SAMUEL A O. PARROTT, OF BORDENTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

lM PROVEMENT IN WATCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 73,161, dated January 7, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. BOWEN, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Watches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view, partly in section, on an enlarged scale, of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged edge view of the interior ring.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to a new device for protecting the drum in which the mainspring is contained, and also the adjoining gearwheels and pinions, from being injured by the breaking of the mainspring.

The invention. consists in the application within the drum of a ring turning loose within the drum, but having a spring or friction catch, by means of which it is connected with the drum.

The outer end of the mainspring is fastened to the said ring, and, when the spring is operating, the catch on the ring carries the drum around 5 but as soon as the spring breaks, ring, and, as it turns the same in the opposite direction, it releases it from the drum, and the latter, with all its appendages, is therefore protected from all injury arising from such breakage of the spring.

A represents the drum, in which the mainspring B is contained. 0 is a ring, fitting loose within the drum A, so that it can be turned therein. The outer end of the mainit exerts all its power against thespring is fastened in any suitable manner to the ring 0, as shown, and its inner end is fastened to and wound up by the arbor D, in the usual manner. E is a catch formed in the periphery of the ring 0, and a is a shoulder formed in the inner periphery of the drum A.

hen the spring is unwinding in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, the catch E will strike against the shoulder a, and the drum will be turned by the action of the spring. When the spring breaks, so that it turns in an opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow, the catch will be withdrawn from the shoulder a, and the ring G will turn loose within the drum, without imparting to the same part of the shock it received by the breaking of the spring.

The catch E can be of suitable construction, and I do not confine myself to any par ticular form or kind. It may be pivoted to the ring, or fitted loose into the same, as shown; and, if desired, it may be combined with a small spring.

Instead of being secured to the spring 0, the catch may as well be formed on the inside of the drum A, in which case the shoulder a would be formed on the ring 0.

This same improvement may with equal advantage be applied to clocks as well as to watches.

I claim as new and desire to ters Patent?- The ring 0, formed within the drum A, and fastened to the mainspring B, when combined with the catch E and shoulder a, substantially as and for the purposes herein shown and described.

secure by Let- GEO. A. BOWEN. lVitnesses:

JAMES ROGERS, WM. JOHNSTON. 

